Solutions
Voicemail nobody leaves messages on.
Your carrier's voicemail can only take a recording. Heyline answers the rings your phone doesn't — books the job into your calendar, or writes down what the caller needed.
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What replaces voicemail when you can't answer?
A receptionist, not a recording. You forward the rings your phone can't finish, and they reach Heyline instead of your voicemail box. She answers what your website already covers, books the job straight into your Google Calendar, or takes the message herself — name and callback number first, every time.
Voicemail only works if the caller uses it, and someone who wanted a spot on your calendar usually won't. They hang up and dial whoever answers. At a typical trade shop only 42% of inbound calls end in a booked job (ServiceTitan platform data, 3,000+ US/CA trade shops, 2022) — 24% where fewer than five technicians are on the roster.
Heyline doesn't record the caller and hand you the tape. She has the conversation instead: a couple of real openings off your calendar, a name, a callback number read back in plain digits. What arrives afterwards is written down, so you read it rather than replay it. There's a fuller side-by-side of voicemail and an AI receptionist if you want the whole comparison.
What does a caller hear instead of the beep?
Someone who can help, inside two rings. Her opening names your business, tells the caller plainly that she's an AI, and warns that the call may be recorded. That disclosure is built into every greeting and can't be edited out of one, on any plan.
Then she asks what they need. There's no menu, no press 1 for service, and no request to leave a name after the tone. A voicemail greeting hands the caller the work — remember a number, describe the problem to nobody, wait. She takes the work back, in one to three sentences at a time, because a phone call isn't an essay.
Decide with your ears — not a sales deck.
Paste your website and talk to your own receptionist, free, in your browser.
What do you get instead of a voicemail?
A mailbox gives you audio and a number to write down. Each of these arrives on its own, and none of them needs you to press play.
| Your carrier's voicemail | Heyline on the same unanswered ring |
|---|---|
| A recording, and only once you press play | A two-line summary of the call, on every plan |
| Whatever the caller remembered to say | The full transcript, plus their answers to any intake questions you set |
| Nothing on your calendar | The appointment already in your own Google Calendar, when that's what they wanted |
| A number you copy down off the playback | A call-back to-do carrying the number she read back and the whole message |
| A mailbox that fills up | Nothing to empty. History runs 30 days on Starter, or as far back as 365 days on Growth and Scale |
| Audio, whether you want it or not | Audio only if you switch recording on, and only on Growth or Scale |
Your number and your mailbox stay exactly where they are. Only the rings you don't take get diverted.
How does Heyline take over from your voicemail?
Four things, once, from the phone in your pocket. Your carrier's own codes are listed in the call forwarding guide.
Get the number that will answer
Going live provisions a dedicated number for the business on the spot — nothing typed in, nothing bought from a carrier. Your published number is untouched.
Divert busy and unanswered rings to it
Copy your carrier's conditional forwarding code and dial it once. A call you pick up never leaves your handset; a busy line or a ring that goes unanswered rolls to her before the mailbox gets it.
Turn carrier voicemail off if your carrier insists
Rogers won't accept conditional forwarding until its voicemail is off. On a VoIP or internet phone, turn the provider's voicemail off or set it to pick up after Heyline. Other carriers need nothing extra — the diversion answers before the mailbox does.
Call your own line and listen for her
Dial your business number from a different phone and let it ring through. When she picks up in place of the mailbox, Heyline marks the line live.
A Saturday call that would have hit the mailbox
Saturday, 9:07 AM — your phone is in the truck
There's water going everywhere — a sprinkler line let go by the driveway.
That sounds like a mess. I can get someone out to look at it. Can I take your name — and is this number the best one to reach you on?
Halina Novak, and yes. I'm on Crestview Lane, out past the arena.
Thanks, Halina. The earliest I have is Monday at 8:00 AM, or Monday at 2:30 PM. Would either of those work?
Monday morning. I'll shut the water off at the box until then.
Monday at 8:00 AM, under Halina Novak, on 613-555-0192. That's in the calendar now.
9:09 AM — booked for Monday, 8:00 AM · in your Google Calendar · recap emailed. Nothing waiting in a mailbox.
Conversation is illustrative.
What she never does in place of your voicemail
There is no mailbox sitting behind her. Nothing fills up, nothing gets missed because the box was full, and no caller is ever asked to talk to a beep.
She can't hand a caller over to you — Heyline has no transfer at all — and she won't call or text them for you afterwards. Clearing the callback is your job, and the to-do row has everything you need to make it.
She won't invent an answer to get out of taking a message, she won't state a policy your notes don't state, and she never quotes a price your price sheet doesn't list. She offers a free estimate, then takes down the details instead.
Frequently asked questions
Do I lose my voicemail?
No. Your carrier's voicemail box stays on your account exactly as it is — forwarded calls simply leave your line before the mailbox can pick up. Rogers requires its voicemail off before forwarding will take, and on a VoIP line you switch the provider's voicemail off or move it behind Heyline. Messages already in the box stay there.
Can callers still leave a message?
Yes — she takes it herself, inside the conversation. There's no beep and no box: she asks what they need, gets a name, and confirms a callback number before the call ends. What reaches you is a two-line summary, the full transcript and a call-back to-do, not three minutes of audio.
Do I have to listen to recordings?
No. Starter has no audio at all, and on Growth and Scale recording is a switch you turn on per business. Every plan hands you her two-line summary, the full transcript and an outcome badge, which is usually all you need. Switch recording on if you'd rather be able to play a call back.
Can I go back to voicemail later?
Yes, whenever you like. Your carrier's undo code cancels the forwarding from your own handset, and the mailbox starts taking unanswered calls again the moment it goes through. On a VoIP or landline account the same switch lives in your provider's portal. No support ticket, no waiting on us.
The mailbox has had its run.
Build her from your website, hear how she handles a caller you'd have missed, and dial the forwarding code when you're convinced.
No card · No setup · Keep your number · No website? Start here
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